Get insurance
An easy way to do this is to extend your home contents insurance to cover your bicycle - but make sure it covers you for thefts outside the home too. If your bicycle is particularly valuable you may need to insure it separately. There are plenty of providers available, so shop around.

Security mark it
A number of bike marking schemes are available. Always ensure you use an ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) approved marking scheme, such as BikeRegister kits - the Met Police preferred bike marking product.

Follow the Three R’s:Record
Keep a record of the frame number, make and any other marks that can identify your bike if it stolen.

Register
Register your bike details onto online property databases such as BikeRegister.com. This will help the police return any recovered bikes to the rightful owners

Report
If your bike is stolen in London, please report this to the Metropolitan Police Service by calling 101 or online here In an emergency dial 112 or 999.

Create an email search on findthatbike.co.uk; Enter in your bikes make/model, and it will search listing sites for any matches, and send any matching adverts to your email daily. If you are a victim of bike theft and you suspect your bike is being sold, do not arrange to meet the seller, contact the police, quoting your crime reference number.

If you love cycling, you might consider becoming a cycling instructor. Whether you would like to make it a full-time job or you just want to pass on some skills at your local school or youth club, undertaking the National Standard Instructor training is the first step.

Kingston is the only London borough recognised as an instructor training organisation (ITO). Since 2007, we have trained more than 300 instructors for local authorities and independent providers.

You can read more about our training here, and learn more about being a Bikeability Instructor here

Cycling is a fantastic way to exercise, travel, and enjoy the great outdoors. Wind in the hair (under your helmet of course), sunglasses on, and a picnic in your bag. However, not everyone sees it this way.

Therefore, CycleKingston is appealing to you to share the good, the bad (and the ugly?!) We want to hear your cycling experiences, news and showcase success stories along the way too.

If you have material you think we should feature on the website, drop us an email on info@cyclekingston.net with the information and some images and we'll do our best to feature them.